Letters to the Editor - Sept. 29, 2011

Wednesday

Sep 28, 2011 at 9:44 PM

As a past president of the N.C. Coastal Branch of the American Society of Civil Engineers, I can report that the ASCE, at both the national and the local levels, has consistently awarded failing marks to the government's attention to infrastructure. This has not been a partisan issue for us. Our roads and bridges, our sewage and water treatment plants, and our other public facilities have been deteriorating under both Republican and Democratic administrations for more than a generation. The private sector does not build infrastructure on its own nickel. We do. And "we" means all of us.As an individual practicing civil engineer, I am speaking out here in favor of the infrastructure funding in President Obama's American Jobs Act. I don't presume to know what the position of ASCE is with regard to the details of the bill, but I have read it and personally support its infrastructure provisions. I encourage other civil engineers and private citizens to do likewise and then make their voices heard.At ASCE, we have for many years been a lone voice crying out in the wilderness about this issue. Now at long last, someone has called our bluff. It would be unconscionable to allow considerations of politics to divert us from such a vital public cause. Steven D. Kelly, Wilmington

The important stubborn fact about downtown parking is that fewer people are parking there. And that is bad for downtown business, investors, residents, taxpayers, who count on the large tax contribution from downtown and city coffers. We, the people, bought 991,000 hours of meter time in fiscal year 2008. The city projects that we will buy 810,000 hours in FY 2012, a drop of 18 percent. That decline needs to be addressed as the impact of that kind of drop in activity is not good for anyone concerned.The city's Downtown Parking Advisory Committee has recommended that the city focus move from raising rates to growing the business activity with helpful marketing and through that the use of parking. That strategy is good for businesses, taxpayers and city coffers. It has also asked that the Downtown Business Alliance and Wilmington Downtown Inc., the principle downtown business groups, work together to develop the marketing plan to achieve this goal.Prior marketing efforts have focused on the desirability of being in a parking deck. A better strategy is one that focuses on the great things to do.My personal hope is that the business groups develop a marketing plan promoting the many positive aspects that downtown Wilmington brings to the region and its residents including the theaters, museums, shopping, churches, beautiful riverfront and aspirations of our community.Paul Lawler, Wilmington

Black Americans need Herman Cain to be our next president. They cannot let a black face represent the most ruinous presidency of our time. …All Americans need a president who will save our way of life. Blacks need that savior to have a black face to erase the terrible legacy that our first black president will leave behind. It is understandable why blacks overwhelmingly voted for the first black to be president.… A black man can get elected to be our president, and color should no longer be an issue. The problem for blacks is that because of Obama, it is still an issue. He was the right color but the wrong person.Herman Cain is the right man at the right time. He is a black man with the right plan to fix this mess we are in. White Americans will vote for him because his plan for America is sound and will work. Blacks should support him for the same reasons. …Anthony Gentile Jr., Wilmington

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